SITAL SINGH @ SEETA Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Concisely, the facts and evidence, unfolded during the course of trial, culminating in the commencement, relevant for disposal of the instant revision petition and emanating from the record are that, on 06.09.2001, complainant-Dalbir Singh(PW5), Member Panchayat, was going along with Harbhajan Singh(PW6) from village Mallian Kalan to Kang Sahab Rai on their scooter. At about 8 PM, as soon as, they reached just behind the small bridge of Canal, in the meantime, petitioner-convict Sital Singh @ Seeta son of Ajit Singh, came on his red coloured Mohindera tractor, carrying sand in the trolley. The complainant claimed that he was driving the offending tractor very rashly and negligently and without blowing any horn. He could not control and rammed the tractor in the cycle of Lakha Ram son of Sewa Ram. He felled on the road and was dragged with the tractor-trolley upto some distance. Thereafter, the petitioner stopped the tractor after covering some distance, but by then as luck would have been, Lakha Ram had died. The petitioner-convict managed to fled away after leaving the tractor-trolley on the spot.

(2.) Levelling a variety of allegations and narrating the sequence of events in detail, in all, the prosecution claimed that the accident, in question, had taken place due to rash and negligent driving of the petitioner-convict, while driving his offending tractor, in which, Lakha Ram had died. In the background of these allegations and in the wake of complaint of the complainant-Dalbir Singh, a criminal case was registered against the petitioner-convict, by means of FIR No.314 dated 06.09.2001, on accusation of having committed the offences punishable under Sections 279 and 304-A IPC, by the police of Police Station Nakodar, District Jalandhar, in the manner depicted hereinabove.

(3.) Having completed all the codal formalities, the trial Court convicted and sentenced the petitioner-convict to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one and a half years, to pay a fine of Rs.2,000/- and in default of payment of fine, to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of two months, for the commission of offence punishable under Section 304-A IPC, by way of impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 09.01.2009.